Baddeley's hot opening raises chances of Masters start

A pumped up Aaron Baddeley flew to his American "home town" of Scottsdale in Arizona, with doors already opening following his brilliant debut as a member of the United States PGA Tour.

The 21-year-old Australian's runner-up finish to Ernie Els in a Hawaii Open playoff on Sunday was expected to send his world ranking soaring to No. 85. This would dramatically boost his chances of playing in the US Masters and other big events.

To score a Masters berth, Baddeley needs to either win, remain in the top 10 on the US money list at the end of March or be ranked in the top 50 then.

"He's getting close to that top 50 and that's an important threshold," said Baddeley's manager Paul Galli.

Baddeley was now a strong chance to play in the event known as the "fifth major", the Players Championship, in March, Galli said.");document.write("

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"He's also a chance to get in the world matchplay in a couple weeks time and he's definitely in the Bay Hill Invitational in Florida, which he wasn't otherwise in."

Baddeley now sits second on the money list behind Els but probably will need to at least double his earnings in the next 10 weeks if he is to gain a Masters start by staying in the top 10.

He will go into this week's Phoenix Open as one of the favourites, and with a useful advantage, against a field comprising 20 of the top 30 money winners on the tour last year.

As well as his hot form, Baddeley knows the venue for the Phoenix Open, the Tournament Players' Club course, better than most of the 132-strong field as it is a short drive from his home.

"He's very familiar with the TPC course and he's very keen to do well," said Galli, who caught a late flight out of Honolulu with Baddeley on Sunday night, landing in Phoenix at 7am.

Despite little sleep, Galli said Baddeley was still on a high after collecting a $822,000 cheque for Sunday's second place to Els.

World No. 2 Els, the winner of the first two US tour events of the season, will not be in Phoenix this week as he is playing in Singapore before heading to Melbourne for the Heineken Classic next week.

World No. 1 Tiger Woods is yet to return from knee surgery but the Phoenix event is still stacked with top names, including Australians Robert Allenby, Steve Elkington and Peter Lonard.